“A dragon is no idle fancy. Whatever may be his origins, in fact or invention, the dragon in legend is a potent creation of men’s imagination, richer in significance than his barrow is in gold.” J.R.R. Tolkien

Words of wisdom that should be remembered - both by critics, purists and anyone in between.

They were decent, but I got sick of them after a while. I would love games that had the same visuals, sounds, voices, etc. as the films, just like they did with LOTR. Or if anything, just one game to sum up the whole story. "Only, you've never done a hard day's work." - Merry

just about a month ago. I have played it on and off, still trying to get used to it, but it really does look amazing. It's very nice that it's free, too. "Only, you've never done a hard day's work." - Merry

... however, quality has become bad over the last years imho and it simply took them too long to come to the really interesting story places again.

But yes, at least for a while it was quite a good way to be able to run around ME by yourself.

I am usually not a gamer at all though, especially not a MMO player, so I always had to take the game mechanics unwillingly to get the stuff I wanted (stories, landscape) :)

“A dragon is no idle fancy. Whatever may be his origins, in fact or invention, the dragon in legend is a potent creation of men’s imagination, richer in significance than his barrow is in gold.” J.R.R. Tolkien

Words of wisdom that should be remembered - both by critics, purists and anyone in between.

Frustrated, waiting for a Vblog or New Trailer, this past
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Month...Bomby Bit the Bullet... LOTRO is where I go yet haven't been a gamer Ever, Since 1989, When Mario Brothers was introduced? Nintendo... Seem to do better as a Dwarve than a Hobbit or Elf?

Frustrating at first but BOMBY is Now at Level 5 but would love to know HOW? can I get Different New envionrments.. Seems I need to Level UP or somethin.. It's trying to keep from spending anymore, $$ so figured out Log out and In again, I guess gets me Mithral

The tie-in video games from LOTR are still classics, IMO
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Classics of the "mindless hack-and-slash" genre, maybe, but classics nonetheless. And easily the best movie tie-in games I've ever played. I was a little disappointed not to see similar games for The Hobbit, though I don't play video games as much as I used to so it doesn't really affect me. I thought about trying the mobile game but it didn't look particularly interesting.

Anyway, it's possible we'll see a console game based on the B05A, but I wouldn't count on it. All the game licenses have been consolidated by WB Interactive Entertainment (which means no more EA games, so unfortunately a BfME3 is unlikely) and their output has been pretty disappointing so far.

I second the LOTRO recommendation. Some of the quest areas don't relate directly to the lore, but recently LOTRO has been focused more and more on following the path of the books. East Rohan (the most recent expansion) was my favourite so far. Helm's Deep (due out in November) looks really cool too.

Basically, for those of you unfamiliar with LOTRO or in need of a refresher, it's an MMO set in MIDDLE EARTH that is FREE and can be played SOLO, so you don't need to invest money in it, or find other people to play with.

1) MIDDLE EARTH: The game is enormous, easily the largest game I've ever played. It covers most of western part of Middle Earth, not just the areas covered by the Fellowship and The Hobbit. Most areas are familiar to those of us who read the books (e.g., Shire, Bree, Misty Mountains, Mirkwood, Moria, Isengard, Rohan). Other areas are more peripheral, and serve mostly to add variety to the leveling process (Evendim, North Downs, Forochel, Angmar, Enedwaith). Each area is huge, and will take several days (and sometimes weeks) to complete. The areas have great variety, and can be beautiful (Shire), ugly (Angmar), spacious (Eregion), claustrophobic (Moria), lush (Trollshaws), stark (Forochel), relaxing (Lorien), stressful (Ettenmoors), etc. Some areas are more fun for others, although people sometimes disagree about which areas are the most fun for them.

2) FREE: As you complete quests and "deeds", you earn Turbine Points, which act like real money in that you can use them to buy more quest areas and expansion packs. In theory, you never need to spend any money. However, if you do spend money (I subscribed for $10/month), you can get in-game perks (like larger inventory, faster travelling, etc.) and instant access to all quest areas. I played for free for the first few months, and then subscribed once I realized that I'd rather pay $10/month than do some of the more repetitive deeds.

3) SOLO: The vast majority of the game can be played solo; the multiplayer-only quests are optional. This is one of the things that appeals to me about LOTRO. I can play it whenever I want, and I don't need to coordinate with other people. So, to me, LOTRO feels like a single player game, except I occasionally see other players running around. Joining with others can be fun, but it can also increase the time commitment to the game, which is not always ideal when you have a family (and other games to play).

My main LOTRO character is "caught up" with all the solo content. I'm at level cap and have finished questing in all the areas, and am waiting for the next expansion (Helm's Deep) to be released. While I wait for Helm's Deep, I play other games. Once Helm's Deep is released, I'll play it until I finish it (which will take a few weeks at my pace), and then I will wait until more content is added. So, LOTRO doesn't take over my life, or even my gaming time; I play it like an offline/single player game. This solo play style feels completely natural, and is very satisfying. I never feel like LOTRO is a "time sink" or "addiction", which are things I heard about WOW and other MMOs. "Grinding" is completely optional, and is more for the multiplayer content, which is much harder than the solo content.

If you are at all interested in Middle Earth gaming, I highly recommend LOTRO. It's a great game, and has tons of cool, memorable moments. It's easily my most played game all time, and I'm just a casual LOTRO player (solo content only, only one character at level cap).

I think it's very important to remember that this was originally going to be 2 films.

With that in mind, who's to say they didn't make a video game based on movie 1? The change to 3 movies happened quite late, probably too late to change the game and omit elements from what became Desolation of Smaug. So obviously when it was 2 films there would now be parts in the first game that would have been from the 2nd movie..... if you see what i mean.

So they cancelled it and will release a game including the first two movies...... just like the LOTR games by EA that we all know and love did. 'I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.' 'So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.'

Recently, it was reported that WB had trademarked names like "Middle-earth: Shadows of Mordor", and an employee at Monolith (subsidiary of WB who works on the LOTR games) said he did concept work for a new AAA title LOTR game that was an open world RPG. So expect some news in the coming months on a new LOTR game.

War In The North is great, and it's a shame Snowblind was dissolved. They couldn't release any DLC for it, unfortunately. :/ But yeah, definitely LOTRO is the best right now. I play it constantly throughout the day (while having TH/LOTR soundtracks playing near me!). Got Helm's Deep preordered and everything and I'm all set. If anyone is on the Brandywine server, send "Crogard" a message! Lover of Medieval Fantasy "I know what I must do. It's just... I'm afraid to do it."

Been quite hesitant to play LOTRO mainly because I don´t like online games. But now that you assert it can be payed mostly as a single player I guess I´m convinced. Te day Bethesda announces a game like the Elder Scrolls but based on the Middle Earth lore I will be the happiest person.

I used to love playing them. I would recommend them to anyone. The levels were always really exciting and you had brilliant real LOTR cast voices used throughout the game, as well as the score, they were hugely atmospheric! I remember doing the Osgiliath level a ton of times cause I kept getting killed.

Yeah, I also have avoided MMOs; I'm just not interesting in fitting my schedule around other people, especially potentially immature people, and having to deal with daily pressure (from players and the company) to spend, spend, spend.

Because of that MMO association, I only got into LOTRO reluctantly, years after its launch (after it had become Free to Play).

However, as soon as I started playing LOTRO, I was hooked. I made a point of playing it like an offline game, ignoring all the other players and the store. It was a long time before I finally bought things (out of curiosity mostly) and played in some optional multiplayer (fellowship) quests, and neither (the store or the multiplayer) wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be.

I still much prefer the solo content, but there's a lot of people who love LOTRO's multiplayer aspect even more. It's great that LOTRO supports both types of players (solo and social).

LOTRO may be the best game but since I am having much problem downloading and updating it, the best game for me is Third Age Total War, especially with MOS submod. It creates a superb Middle Earth atmosphere where you can play many numbers of factiosn and fight across realistic Middle Earth, created on the image of the map.

I recently made it to the 85 level cap after first subscribing to the game Christmas '11. It's a very beautiful game, and I enjoy the freedom of being able to explore wherever I want.

One day I might work on crafting, another I do the epic quests, another I work on deeds, etc. I sometimes go three weeks without logging on, then might log on three times in a week. The solo aspect of the game is crucial to it being enjoyable, although every once in a while I will find a lower level person and help them out -- especially if it looks like they are getting whooped by a monster!

Could they be planning the same principle behind the original tie ins? As in, the first game focusses on the first two movies, whereas the second is entirely focussed on the final movie. This would make sense, since their really isn't enough diversity of locations in the first movie to justify a decent hack'n'slash game.